The other end of the line
by keepingdarveyalive
Summary: Rachel finally rings Donna back after she left 'that' message


"Rachel, hey" she answered her friend's call excitedly but her good humour immediately faded.

"Hi Donna, sorry I didn't answer this morning Mike and I have been busy"

Donna immediately knew her friend was being evasive and she could have kicked herself. She didn't even think this morning, she was just so happy she wanted to share the news with her best friend.

"Rachel, I'm sorry, I was so caught up in the moment and…"

"Ok and I get that but only 12 hours ago when we spoke, Donna, I've not heard you like that since you left Harvey and I'm still trying to process what happened with my Dad, so then to get a call like that"

It was about 15 hours earlier when she had taken Louis' call. She couldn't take his. She couldn't hear it in his voice when he told her he'd lost everything and that it was all her fault, or worse, he tried to make her feel better, tell her it wasn't her fault when they both knew it was. Everyone that had tried to take him down over the years and it was her betrayal that would do it. She'd spent her whole career helping him become who he was today but this time she'd not cared about the consequences and despite his reaction to her back in his office, despite the hurt he clearly felt, he would take the fall for her. There was no point in her trying to talk him out of it or going in and making a grand gesture, that would just hurt him more. He had been prepared to go to prison for MIke, he'd sacrifice himself for her without question, she knew that. That was who he was, when had she lost sight of that. Alex's words taunted her. 'because you love him'. Thomas treated her the way she always wanted (him) to treat her. She shook her head, frustrated with herself, what did she need to do to move past this. She'd tried so many times and failed, but this time, she really wanted it to work with Thomas, she really liked him and yet she'd outdone herself. What a way to wreck a relationship.

She had taken a few hours to process what Louis had told her. The relief that she hadn't ruined Harvey was shadowed in the guilt that, although it was Robert's decision alone, she was ultimately responsible. She would not have a job anywhere else; Donna didn't have regrets as a rule, but she knows she messed up this time and the knock on effects would ripple out far and wide. Samantha, she was going to be devastated and lash out. Would Alex and Louis still have confidence in her as COO after she'd put her relationship over the firm. Rachel, shit, Rachel. She might be family but this was her Dad, how could she explain that she'd put someone she'd known a few weeks over their family, how could she explain it to herself. It was over with Thomas, not officially but he'd had to lie for them, he wasn't going to forgive the firm and she was part of that, he was never going to accept her working alongside Harvey now that he'd seen their connection and she wasn't prepared to give up her job. And him, she didn't even want to think about him. She supposed they'd just go on as before and pretend everything was 'back to normal' what a joke. He'd been prepared to give up everything for her and she loved him for it but that just made her more angry because it wasn't going to change anything, she was going to be stuck right where she'd always been.

Half a bottle of wine later she decided she'd sorted through the jumble in her head enough to start repairing the damage. She had three missed calls from him, one from Thomas and a few messages from them both she wasn't ready to read. There was one from Robert and though it made her stomach turn to do it she focused in on his short message.

"No looking back red. Do what you do best now and steady the ship"

Her first call was to Rachel.

"Hey Rache"

"Hey, how you doing?"

"Glad you're still talking to me. I wish you were here. How's Robert?"

"He's dealing with this better than all of us, Donna how could it get to this? I know my Dad and I get that he had his reasons, he doesn't want to explain over the phone but I respect him Donna so I know he's ok about all this, Mom is good with it too so I guess I have to be and Donna I'm not angry that he did it, but I am angry that he had to"

"That's completely fair Rachel, I know he did what he did for himself but it's my fault he had to. I broke privilege with Thomas after forcing Harvey to tell me something and then I didn't give him time to fix it. This is all my fault Rachel and I am so, so sorry."

"You chose Thomas over Harvey?"

"Yeah"

"He must be pretty special"

"It's over"

"What? Donna?"

"I know, I created a perfect storm. Harvey asked Thomas to lie to protect me, to put it all on him and when Thomas asked me why he would do that I could't answer, I guess that was his answer"

"Donna, I'm sorry. I can't believe after all this time that you put someone else over Harvey"

"Yeah and look how well that turned out. I honestly don't know what to do anymore"

Rachel was angry at her friend but she also knew she was already feeling guilty and miserable, and worse still she was alone, she did not want to make her feel worse but she couldn't make her feel better right now, Donna had to live with the consequences of what she'd done, she had to be honest with her.

"I don't know what to say, I know you were trying to be loyal to Thomas but you're the COO Donna, you've always had faith in Harvey above everything, this isn't like you, but I do know that if you two don't fix your shit once and for all, my Dad isn't going to be the last person to suffer the consequences."

Donna didn't fight back, she was glad her friend was saying how she felt because ultimately, if she didn't, their friendship would suffer and she deserved backlash from this.

"I know. I tried Rache, I thought Thomas might be it"

A loud banging on her front door startled her and promising that they would talk soon she ended the call.

—

"And the last thing you said to me was that you thought you might have a future with Thomas, Donna what the hell happened"

"it was him at the door last night. He didn't even speak I just knew Rache, he was ready and it was so amazing I just let myself get caught up in it all and I couldn't wait to tell you"

"I'm happy for you Donna, I am.."

"But you need more time to get your head around what happened"

"I'm sorry, but yeah. I want you to be happy more than anything but it's really hard being so far away from everything and knowing what Dad has just sacrificed it's a lot"

"Thank you for being honest with me"

"I do want to hear all about it and I promise it'll all be ok but just.."

"Give you some space"

"I love you Donna"

"I love you too Rache"

She was exhausted, with almost no sleep, her plans to see Harvey cancelled, the call with Thomas and now Rachel, she was done with this day. She thought back to this morning, waking up with his body wrapped round her and smiled sadly. After all this time, they had found each other but it wasn't going to be straightforward, they weren't going to have time to revel in each other, there was too much else at stake. She missed him though, already not having him here she felt incomplete. Truth was, she was pretty vulnerable at the moment and she could use his strength, their connection, just to keep her steady. There was nothing else she could do tonight so she headed for bed but knew that sleep would be hard to come by.

They had a good plan. He enjoyed working with Samantha a lot, she kept him on his toes, always a come back, like him when he was younger, willing to do anything. He liked those parts of him though not having Donna or Mike to be his conscience was a little dangerous but he was enjoying having something to fight back with and no one to make him pull his punches. Mike had left him a message earlier but he'd not had time to listen.

"So, you've finally realised that I was right all along, in fact that everyone knew what you didn't. Well done for catching up with the class. How did Louis react, I'd have paid to see that one. She's way too good for you, you know that right? Call me back, I need to take you apart in person….I'm happy for you Harvey"

He smiled to himself, it was too late to call Mike back now, he opened his messages to read her last message and noticed she was active only five minutes ago. That meant she was still awake, and given that she'd had little sleep the night before, she must be finding it difficult to switch off. In five minutes he was on his way there. Donna had told him to take a key earlier in case he left first so he let himself in and dropping the bags Ray had collected for him earlier in the day he headed into he bedroom.

Donna was scrolling through her phone trying to find something to distract her when she heard the key turn. Her heart skipped a beat, this Harvey was going to take some getting used to, not that she was complaining. She sat up in bed and turned on the bedside light and gave him a questioning gaze as he looked back at her sheepishly.

"Is it ok?"

"It's more than ok Harvey" she smiled back and held her hand out to him. He briefly kissed her before pulling back much to both their disappointment.

"Five minutes"

Grabbing his bag he headed to the bathroom, cleaned his teeth and changed out of his suit. Four minutes later he slipped in beside her and wrapped her in his arms. She sunk into him and pulled him tightly to her.

"You ok?"

"I will be"

He leaned over to kiss her forehead and they held each other, listening just to the sound of the other breathing as they found peace and drifted off.


End file.
